Here is an interesting story. Filled with he-said-he-said accusation. New Mexico police chief Shane Harger recently attended an event in Las Vegas held by a group that urges police officials to be mindful of the U.S. Constitution in the execution of their duties. But upon returning home from the convention, Harger was suddenly fired from his job as the chief of Jemez Springs, New Mexico because, he says, he has been called a “terrorist” for believing in the Constitution.

Chief Harger attended the Las Vegas gathering of the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) to hear what the group had to say about its goals. Harger says he’d never attended such an event in the past and until the Vegas event was not a member of the group.

On the way to the CSPOA event, though, the chief suddenly found that his name had been placed on some sort of watchlist by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and he was harassed by TSA agents as he tried to board his plane.

Harger reported that when he got to the airport a man who briefly flashed a badge and claimed to be a “federal agent” (from what agency he would not say) informed the police chief that he was a “person of interest” and that he had to be detained.

The reason given by the TSA for his detention was that Harger was carrying a legally issued driver’s license under the name Braxton Haze, a name that Harger said he was using because he had been involved in a “high-profile” investigation that threatened his safety when he was a deputy in Valencia County. So he had his name legally changed during that time period. (He left law enforcement for a time after the 2013 case, but when he was hired by Jemez Springs he was hired under his real name.)

Harger was held for thirty-five minutes and his interrogation was video taped. He was not charged with anything and subsequent attempts to get a copy of the video have been ignored by the federal government.

by Sir John Hawkins

John Hawkins's book 101 Things All Young Adults Should Know is filled with lessons that newly minted adults need in order to get the most out of life. Gleaned from a lifetime of trial, error, and writing it down, Hawkins provides advice everyone can benefit from in short, digestible chapters.

When Chief Harger returned home, however, he discovered that Sandoval County, NM Sheriff Douglas C. Wood had intervened with his city, Jemez Springs, and demanded that the city fire the chief and disband the police department.

Sheriff Woods also demanded that Chief Harger surrender his county special deputy commission for “liability and public safety reasons.”

After this story was broken by Sam Bushman of the website Liberty Roundtable, the local newspaper made to “correct” some of the facts of the incident noting that Sheriff Woods did not disband the Jemez Springs department nor fire Chief Harger because, in fact, the Sheriff has no such power to do so.

The paper also stated that the Chief had not been fired. But Harger himself reported that he was brought before a meeting of the town council and told he was fired and that his firing was decided in a closed-door meeting to which he was not a party.

“I have been terminated I have been fired at council meeting tonight they let me go with no reason as to why,” Harger told Bushman on February 12.

Still, it appears that the city reversed itself and decided to put him on “desk duty” pending further actions. But even at that Harger told the media that the city demanded that he take away the badges and IDs from his officers.

Harger still insists that his treatment is tied to his association with the CSPOA, but city officials dispute that.

Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston is a Chicago-based freelance writer, has been writing opinion editorials and social criticism since early 2001 and is featured on many websites such as Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, BigJournalsim.com and all Breitbart News' other sites, RightWingNews.com, CanadaFreePress.com, and many, many others. Additionally, he has been a frequent guest on talk-radio programs across the country to discuss his opinion editorials and current events as well as appearing on TV networks such as CNN, Fox News, Fox Business Network, and various Chicago-based news programs.
He has also written for several history magazines and appears in the book "Americans on Politics, Policy and Pop Culture" which can be purchased on amazon.com. He is also the owner and operator of PubliusForum.com.
Feel free to contact him with any comments or questions : EMAIL Warner Todd Huston and follow him on Twitter, on Google Plus , and Facebook.